I touched that knee. She did not show surprise, <br />And the earth had not opened at our feet. <br />She did not even laugh. Her foolish eyes <br />Twinkled a moment in her cheeks, then set <br />Like fog--bound stars for ever from my sight. <br />And at a signal from the little woman, <br />Who clung to me still, a chorus left and right <br />Of laughter rose Homeric and inhuman, <br />Drowning all further sense in one wild roar. <br />I heard the spotted girl with leopard lips <br />Complain that she was hungry as before, <br />And all the world was merged in an eclipse, <br />Darkening the air around and overhead, <br />And then I broke away and turned and fled.<br /><br />Wilfrid Scawen Blunt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/esther-a-sonnet-sequence-xvii/
